Apparatuses for automatically milking animals are well known and have a widespread use. The milking apparatuses comprise various mechanical movable parts for implementing the automation. For example, a milking robot comprises a robot arm for automatically gripping teat cups and for attaching them to the teats of a milking animal, such as a cow.
The environments in which the milking apparatuses are arranged, for example cowsheds, are often dirty and dusty. This imposes strains on the mechanical parts of the automatic milking systems in that their proper functioning may be detrimentally affected or even halted by dirt entering into openings in the housings of the mechanical parts. A stoppage within a milking farm is very undesired since it not only imposes costs for the farmer, but may also be harmful and painful for the milking animals.
Gripping devices of the type that encloses the teat cups in order to grip hold of them, for example claw like grippers, have several movable parts prone to wear. Further, the movable parts of such gripper devices comprise a housing and joints having a number of openings into which dirt and dust may penetrate and detrimentally affect their performance.
From the above it is clear that the stresses put on the mechanical parts of the milking system, for example by dirt, should be kept at a minimum in order to obtain a secure and reliable operation.
The mechanical parts are therefore advantageously cleansed regularly in order to function properly. A farmer then typically inspects the milking station manually and washes off each milking station separately if required. It is clear that such cleaning may be cumbersome and time-consuming considering the number of openings in the various mechanical parts of each milking station. It is most desirable that cleaning procedures within a milking farm are efficient and easy to perform.